Puducherry: Sunday is shopping day for Puducherry residents and, of course, for tourists too. It is the day when the market, famous for cheap rates, is open with a wide variety of products, including textiles, electronic products, fancy items and books.
The market’s history goes back to 30 years when small traders from nearby places started to come here to sell their products. Due to good response, the market became a regular feature, until police started citing traffic and other problems. Thanks to intervention of the then trade union leaders the market has come to stay.
With over 1,000 shops, now the ‘Sunday market’ has grown into a popular one-stop shopping place. Traders from all over India come here to sell products. Puducherry is considered the favorite weekend holiday destination of tourists, especially from Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, and Sunday market remains one of the major shopping destinations of visitors.
On Sundays, regular shops on M.G. Road close their outlets to help small vendors. A major attraction of Sunday market is the wide collection of books it offers for sale on pavements of M.G.Road at affordable rates. Collection of books in French,German and other world languages are also available here.
“Mainly people from Aurobindo Ashram will buy the French and Italian books. Other customers are mostly students who are in search of text books and study materials,” says Tamizh who has been selling second hand books in the market for the last 15 years.
“ We people work in different places in Chennai and will come to Puducherry on Sundays to sell books. I will be having a collection of 800 books minimum” says Kandhan who has been selling books here for the past one year.
“Whenever I am coming here in search of a book, I never get disappointed
and you will get the books at an unbelievable price if you know how to bargain”, says Akhila , a student of Pondicherry University. Parents say that the book market is a real boon for them as they get used books at cheap rates.
